How Podcasts Can Improve Employee Communication

Podcasts… For Employee Communication?

Podcasts have come a long way since 2004, but we’re still discovering the various ways brands can use it. One use that Quill is exploring is how podcasts used can be to improve a brand’s employee communication. 

This is a much more recent area that’s being explored in the podcast space and one that you might not have heard of yet. Whether large or small, organizations need to have some sort of internal comms in place to increase employee engagement and retention. With the access to new mediums like podcasts, internal comms teams are realizing the value that they bring as a tool to increase engagement and community. 

In a report done by Poppulo on internal communications professionals across various sizes of organizations, they found that more than 50% of internal comms professionals agreed that they do not have the right tools to do their job. While 95% agreed that measurement is important yet there is still a challenge when it comes to accurately analyze the tools used. 

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Cue Podcasts 

Podcasts are a powerful tool for internal comms professionals to engage employees in an efficient and convenient medium. There’s a time and place for emails, but when it comes to time-consuming emails, only a fraction of employees have the time to stay up to date. Podcasts are measurable, engaging, and easy for employees to interact with on the go. 

There are multiple ways to use podcasts for internal comms. But at the end of the day, it’s dependent on your organization and what you’re trying to achieve with your employees. But here are a few examples: 

Updates

74% of employees actually feel as if they’re missing out on company news. Give your employees short and value-packed updates on company news and happenings.

Employee Introductions 

This one’s especially useful for global organizations. Let your employees get to know each other by featuring different individuals across various levels and departments of your organization. Deliver quick interview-style episodes where employees can share some things about them and their roles. It’s even been shown that employee productivity can increase by 25% when they feel connected to one another. 

Industry News

Keep your employees up to date with what’s happening in your organization’s respective industry. What’s the latest news? What are some key insights that your employees might find helpful? 

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How to Listen

The distribution of the podcast is ultimately up to the brand. When most people think of podcasts, they think of highly public platforms like Spotify and Apple. But you don’t need to share your podcast amongst public networks for them to be a useful and entertaining communication tool. When thinking of internal comms, most brands prefer to keep their series private, reaching their employees only. Luckily, there are various platforms where brands can make their RSS feeds private. 

*Check out a list of four platforms here, recommended by Podcast Insights. 

Once you have your private feed setup, simply share the content through whatever channels your organization uses. Whether this is a message board, newsletter, groups, etc. 

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Don’t Believe Us?

We know this is still a pretty new way for brands to use podcasts and audio to support their organization. But at the end of the day, people are looking for convenience. Content that is easy to consume will help keep your organization engaged and on the same page. 

But either way, here are a couple of quotes from some important people that believe in this revolution. 

“Podcasting will transform enterprise workforce engagement. Internal ‘town hall’ meetings will be streamed as live casts and available afterwards as on-demand audio and video podcasts. Original podcasts will be created to better align workers with company leaders, goals, values and news. Enterprise podcast adoption, corporate communications preferences, and consumption analytics will further solidify podcasting as a more modern and effective channel than email and corporate intranets. Another area of growth: corporate learning and development teams will begin the process of converting training materials to media-on-demand podcast series, delivering remote and in-transit employees with more convenient and secure mobile access to libraries of informational content.” - Jen Grogono, CEO, uStudio

“While it sounds incredibly touchy-feely, business need to engage the hearts of their employees. Podcasts can be a powerful way to do that, in the right situations, to provide increased access to leadership in a way that is very quick and easy to produce.” - Casey Combest, CEO of Blue Sky Studios

“Your boss’s boss will start an internal podcast in 2020. C-suite execs, HR leaders, and sales trainers will use the medium’s intimacy and convenience to communicate with staff and build corporate culture. Some internal corporate podcasters will require employees to use a proprietary app or a desktop intranet page designed in 2008 to listen, but the more forward-thinking internal podcasters will distribute shows via specialized platforms like ours that enable protected listening via employees’ existing podcast apps. It’ll take some experimentation to figure out what employees will actually care enough to listen to simply sharing an audio recording of the conventional all-hands meeting won’t fly.” - David Stern, Supporting Cast

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Don’t Overlook Quality

We’ve mentioned this before in previous articles, but the importance of good quality audio cannot be ignored. Regardless of whether you are publishing your podcast series for internal or external use, listeners today expect high production value. 

To be frank, you still have an audience for your series, even if it’s your employees. Just because they work in your organization doesn’t mean they deserve poor quality content. Producing an internal comms series still needs to be planned and executed like a normal podcast would be. Think about who your employees are, the type of content they will enjoy, and find a time that is convenient for them to listen. Then and ensure that your audio quality is high, so it is seamless to listen to. 

Why not create something they look forward to hearing? 

If you’re interested in producing your own employee communication series for your organization, let’s chat!